儿童英语读物 The Dog-Gone Mystery CHAPTER 5 Blue Eyes

Roxanne looked at Grayson’s leash 1, which was still tied to a small tree. “Your dog broke his leash and ran away,” she said.



Suddenly Mr. Kovack and his bloodhound came running from the nearby park. “What’s wrong?” asked Mr. Kovack. “I heard somebody scream.”



“Grayson Majesty 2 is gone,” cried Mrs. Servus. “Please help me find him. He broke loose from his leash.”



“We’ll help you find him,” Violet 3 said to Mrs. Servus.



“Yes,” said Jessie. “Maybe we should start looking right now?” she asked Roxanne.



But Roxanne wasn’t listening. She was looking at Mr. Kovack. “I trusted you,” she said. “Now look what’s happened.”



Henry wondered what Roxanne meant about trusting Mr. Kovack. He also wondered what Mr. Kovack was doing here. “You said you couldn’t stay,” Henry said to him. “But you’re still here.”



“I took Christie for a walk first,” answered Mr. Kovack.



Henry picked up the end of the leash that wasn’t tied to the tree. There was no ragged 4 tear across the leather. Instead, there was a very clean cut. “This leash wasn’t broken,” said Henry. “It looks like somebody cut it.”



“Let me see that,” demanded Mr. Kovack. He looked at the leash, then he looked at Henry. Roxanne looked over his shoulder. “This leash has been cut,” said Mr. Kovack. He turned to Mrs. Servus.



“I’m sorry,” he said, “but it looks as if somebody cut this leash and took your dog.” Mr. Kovack rolled up the leash and put it in his pocket.



“Took?” asked Mrs. Servus. “You mean stole? Grayson has been stolen?” Mrs. Servus was very upset. She was pacing around in circles, waving her arms.



Violet felt very sorry for her.



All at once Mrs. Servus stopped in front of Roxanne. “This is your fault,” she shouted. “You run a training school where dogs are stolen!”



“N-n-no, I don’t,” said Roxanne. “I don’t know why this is happening.”



Now Violet felt bad for Roxanne.



“You are in big trouble,” Mrs. Servus told Roxanne. “Grayson Majesty is a purebred malamute. He’s worth big money! He’s a valuable show dog.”



“That’s not true,” said Mr. Kovack.



Everybody turned to look at him.



“What’s not true?” asked Jessie.



“It’s not true that Grayson is a valuable show dog,” Mr. Kovack said.



“Yes, he is!” said Mrs. Servus. She turned to Roxanne. “He’s worth big money and I’m going to make you pay.”



“No,” begged Roxanne. “Please don’t do that.”



“We’ll help you find your dog,” Henry said to Mrs. Servus. “We’re good at finding 5 things.”



But nobody listened to what Henry was saying. Everybody was shouting at everybody else.



“Your dog isn’t a valuable show dog because he isn’t a purebred malamute,” said Mr. Kovack to Mrs. Servus.



Mrs. Servus gasped 6. “Yes he is. My dog is a purebred malamute!”



Mr. Kovack just shook his head. “No,” he said. “Your dog has blue eyes. Only dark-eyed malamutes are purebred. The ones with blue eyes can’t enter shows for purebred malamutes.”



Now Mrs. Servus was even more upset. She was so upset she began to hiccup 7 and couldn’t speak.



Violet remembered what Mrs. Servus had said about her dog’s eyes the first day of class.



“Mrs. Servus must want people to think that Grayson is a show dog,” she whispered to Jessie. “That’s why she wouldn’t admit he has blue eyes.”



“Please don’t be upset,” Henry told Mrs. Servus. “It doesn’t matter what color your dog’s eyes are. He’s still the best dog in the world to you.”



Mrs. Servus looked at Henry gratefully. She nodded her head. “Yes. I just want him back.” Tears filled her eyes.



“I think we should start looking for Grayson,” Jessie said.



“Yes,” said Henry. “Right now.”



“You kids are right,” muttered 8 Mr. Kovack. “Henry, can you take charge and lead the search?”



“Sure,” said Henry.



Mr. Kovack turned to Roxanne. “I’d better get to my meeting,” he said. “But you can help with the search.”



“Uh, well, uh,” said Roxanne. “I mean, I can’t help search. I’d like to, but I have to get ready for my next class. Sorry about that.”



Violet noticed that Mrs. Servus frowned 9 at Roxanne.



Henry organized everybody into four groups. He sent each group in a different direction, with instructions to ask questions to everyone they met.



Roxanne stayed behind. So did Mr. Kovack, who hadn’t left yet.



“I’ll watch your dogs for you,” Roxanne told the dog owners.



But nobody wanted to leave their dogs with Roxanne. Everybody took their dog with them.



Jessie and Mr. Smith were on the same team. Watch and Wrinkles 10 seemed to like each other.



Jessie and Mr. Smith walked by the Bread Loaf Bakery. They asked Mr. Brooks 11 if he had seen Grayson Majesty.



“You mean he’s missing 12?” asked Mr. Brooks.



“I’m afraid so,” answered Mr. Smith. “His leash was cut. We’re afraid he was stolen. And Roxanne won’t help us look.”



Mr. Brooks was silent. Finally, he spoke 13. “I don’t think Roxanne stole Boxcar or Grayson,” he said.



“What made you change your mind?” asked Jessie.



“Roxanne is just too good a person to steal a dog,” Mr. Brooks replied. “She came to my shop at lunch and we had a long talk. She told me she would never steal a dog. I believe her. That’s why I made cookies and lemonade for the class.”



After the Bread Loaf Bakery, Jessie and Mr. Smith visited five more stores and talked to six people on the street. Then they reached Clip 14 and Yip.



Mr. Smith tried to open the door, but the store was closed. “Why isn’t Clip and Yip open?” he asked. “How can I bring Wrinkles here if the store isn’t open?”



“I don’t know why it’s not open,” said Jessie. “It was open yesterday, when we took Watch in for grooming 15.”



At the end of an hour, all the searchers met in the Dog Gone Good parking lot. They checked inside the building to see if Grayson had returned. He hadn’t.



Mrs. Servus was very sad. “Please don’t worry,” said Jessie. “We will help you find your dog.” She told Mrs. Servus that she and Henry and Violet and Benny could make a poster of Grayson and put it in store windows.



Mrs. Servus gave them a picture of Grayson Majesty and Jessie wrote down all the information about him.



“You can say that he has blue eyes,” said Mrs. Servus. “That might help somebody recognize him.”



“Okay,” said Jessie.



As the children walked out to their bikes, Mr. Kovack came from behind the building.



Mr. Kovack looked at the Aldens. “You kids probably wonder why I’m still here.”



“Yes,” said Henry. “You said you had a meeting.”



“I’m still here because a stolen dog is more important than a meeting,” said Mr. Kovack. Then he walked away.



“Maybe he never had a meeting,” said Henry. The others nodded. It was hard to tell when Mr. Kovack was telling the truth.



When the Aldens got home they put their bikes away and fed Watch. Then they made another Lost Dog flyer. They printed out fifty copies.



Benny took a flyer and looked at it. “I wish we knew who stole Boxcar and Grayson,” he said.



Violet looked at the flyer, too. She noticed something. “Boxcar and Grayson both have blue eyes!” she said.



“That’s true,” said Henry.



“Do you think it means something?” asked Jessie.



But no one had the answer to that.